Death toll of 47,000 expected to rise and WHO says 26 million people need assistance across both countries
The figures are unfathomable: 47,000 people dead, thousands of others missing, millions homeless. In minutes, two massive earthquakes that rocked Turkey and Syria turned entire cities into mounds of rubble. Two weeks later, the scale of the devastation is still being unearthed. The true impact will not be fully understood for decades.
Continue reading...Foragers in central region targeted by Islamist group, says UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
At least 53 people were killed on Friday in an attack east of Homs in central Syria that was blamed on Islamic State, state media reported.
“Fifty-three citizens who were truffle hunting were killed during an attack by the terrorists of IS to the south-west of the town of Al-Sukhna,” state television said.
Continue reading...Ten days after disaster, grief is being subsumed by anger over lax building standards
Bodies continued to be retrieved from rubble across southern Turkey on Thursday as the death toll from the earthquake neared 42,000 and anger mounted among survivors, who said lax building standards were as much to blame as the tremor itself.
A lone survivor, a 17-year-old girl, was pulled from ruins in the nearly destroyed city of Antakya, in a moment of relief for rescuers. But the almost miraculous rescue was dwarfed by an ongoing recovery operation that shows little sign of slowing down.
Continue reading...Survivors in Jindires feel forgotten by the world, and have particular scorn for UN’s dealings with Assad
Ruqaya Mohammed Mustafa stood next to her few remaining neighbours and the heaped piles they once called home and wearily welcomed the first visitors she had seen since the earthquake last week.
All this time, she and the people of Jindires, in northern Syria, had been begging for help. First to dig survivors from the rubble, then to provide shelter and food in the cruel grip of winter.
Continue reading...The survivors, including two teenagers, saved as rescue teams look to next phase of aid
Seven more people have been rescued eight days after a massive earthquake hit Turkey and Syria, but hopes of finding further survivors of what the World Health Organization called the worst natural disaster in 100 years in its 53-country Europe region are dwindling.
As a UN aid convoy entered stricken north-west Syria through a new crossing, the combined death toll rose to nearly 38,000, including 31,974 in Turkey and at least 5,714 in rebel-held and government-controlled Syria – a figure that is expected to continue to increase.
Continue reading...Five-year-old Jinan now in hospital with serious leg injury; her brother had only scratches while the rest of their family died
Omar Rahal heard a voice coming from the rubble, so faint that he struggled to understand if it might only be in his head. The previous night, two earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and 7.6 had levelled his village, Harem, in the rebel-held province of Idlib in Syria, flattening dozens of buildings including the block of flats where his cousin Mahmoud lived with his wife and their seven children.
A few hours later, Rahal, the local police chief, rushed into the rubble of the house in the hope of finding Mahmoud and his family alive. All morning he heard no signs of life, but at 12.30pm his ears picked up five words spoken by what sounded like a little girl: “Get me out of here.”
Continue reading...First relief housing units arrive in Hatay province, Amazon sends food and blankets and Allianz donates €6m
The Ikea Foundation has sent 5,000 flatpack shelters to southern Turkey and northern Syria to house people left homeless by the earthquake last week, as companies around the world pledge help.
The Swedish homeware multinational’s philanthropy arm said on Tuesday it had donated €10m (£8.8m) to the NGO Better Shelter, with which it developed the robust, award-winning 17.5 sq metre shelters that fit in two boxes and can be assembled without tools.
Continue reading...UN announces regime leader’s acceptance of border crossing points for humanitarian aid to reach rebel-held province
The Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, has agreed to open two border crossing points to allow in a greater volume of emergency aid for victims of the earthquake that has devastated parts of Turkey and Syria, and killed 36,000 people.
Assad’s decision was announced and welcomed by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, who said the two crossing points between Turkey and north-west Syria, at Bab al-Salam and Al Ra’ee, would be open “for an initial period of three months to allow for the timely delivery of humanitarian aid”.
Continue reading...North-west Syrian province was a place of last resort for people fleeing war – then came Covid, cholera and new catastrophe
“We were asleep when the earthquake struck – I thought it was an airstrike so I ran outside,” said Mohammed Hadi, weeping gently as he clutched his baby daughter. “I grabbed my wife and two of my children and took them with me. My wife was gripping my hand tightly as we ran. But then, once we got outside, she realised two of our daughters were still inside and ran back in to save them.”
He described seeing a flash of white, which cleared to reveal the rubble of what was once his new home. The collapse of the five-storey apartment block had claimed his three loved ones’ lives as Hadi watched.
Continue reading...Turkish rescue efforts wind down amid grief and anger while UN calls for aid access to north-west Syria
A diminishing number of survivors have been pulled from the catastrophic earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria as the death toll climbed to over 35,000 and UN aid officials pushed for more aid access to rebel-controlled north-west Syria, where only one crossing from Turkey was open.
Search and rescue teams began to wind down their work on Monday as hopes of finding anyone alive faded, but there were cheers in Turkish cities when people were freed after seven days under the rubble, including a young girl named Miray in Adıyaman and a 12-year-old boy named Kaan in southern Hatay province.
Continue reading...Former al-Nusra Front chief keen to show scale of crisis in Idlib province and play down past links to al-Qaida
A Syrian rebel leader with a $10m (£8.3m) US government bounty on his head has appealed for urgent international aid to help the north-west province of Idlib after the earthquakes that have killed thousands and brought the last opposition-controlled area to its knees.
“The United Nations needs to understand that it’s required to help in a crisis,” said Ahmed Hussein al-Shara, better known by the nom de guerre Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, amid a humanitarian crisis that had already reached critical levels in Idlib before the twin earthquakes last week.
Continue reading...Warnings current toll of 33,000 from earthquake that struck parts of Turkey and Syria could double
Turkish authorities have issued more than 100 arrest warrants over collapsed buildings, amid warnings that the death toll from the earthquake that struck parts of Turkey and Syria could double from the current tally of 33,000.
State media reported that at least 12 people were in custody, including contractors, architects and engineers connected to some of the tens of thousands of buildings destroyed or seriously damaged in Monday’s 7.8- and 7.6-magnitude quakes.
Continue reading...Officials and medics say 29,605 people have died in Turkey and 3,574 in Syria; Baby girl rescued in Hatay. This live blog is now closed
Randa Ghazy, the middle east regional media manager at Save the Children told the BBC long term there would be a “second disaster” as the rescued struggle to survive.
She said the charity has been delivering hot meals, water, blankets and mattresses, adding that many people “are still sleeping in their cars.”
Of course, in the long term, there will be a second disaster, which is the survival of those who managed to get out of the rubble, supporting them and supporting children in accessing for example, education, with all the schools closed. And having a warm shelter. We are here to make sure that all children of course, are safe and protected and their families as well.”
Continue reading...This live blog has now closed, you can read more about the earthquake here
Rescuers in Turkey pulled two women alive from the rubble of collapsed buildings after they were been trapped for 122 hours following the region’s deadliest quake in two decades, authorities said on Saturday.
The death toll exceeded 24,150 across southern Turkey and northwest Syria a day after the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said authorities should have reacted faster to Monday’s huge earthquake.
Our main goal is to ensure that they return to a normal life by delivering permanent housing to them within one year, and that they heal their pain as soon as possible.”
We focused all our energy to this project to serve people in the area impacted by the earthquake. We aim to provide a safe haven to them as soon as possible.”
Continue reading...At least 24,596 people have been confirmed dead after the 7.8-magnitude quake struck on Monday
The death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria is likely to “more than double”, according to a United Nations emergency relief coordinator.
Martin Griffiths, speaking to Sky News on Saturday, said he expected tens of thousands more deaths.
Continue reading...Remains of Australian man and Australian woman identified by family members in Turkey, according to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Three Australians are believed to have died in the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria, which has killed more than 23,000 people.
The remains of an Australian man and an Australian woman have been identified by family members in Turkey, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
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Continue reading...Assad regime still insists on handling all aid shipments to war-torn and quake-ravaged country that has been all but cut off from help
The US has temporarily eased its sanctions on Syria in an effort to speed up aid deliveries to the country’s north-west, where almost no humanitarian assistance has arrived despite the deaths of thousands in this week’s earthquake.
The tremor that has killed nearly 23,000 people there and in neighboring Turkey added to the devastation suffered in Syria’s north, which was already badly damaged by the civil war and is now mostly under opposition control, with Bashar al-Assad’s government present only in some areas.
Continue reading...Determination to get donations to stricken areas is galvanising people haunted by fears for family and friends
Dozens of volunteers are packing boxes piled high on a north London industrial estate, filling them with vital donations to be sent to Gaziantep, the south-eastern province in Turkey devastated by the earthquake that hit in the early hours on Monday.
Huseyin Goran, 36, has been helping for three days straight. “The first two days I didn’t sleep and did as much as I could. I took a three-hour rest and carried on.”
Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands more people have been left homeless in often sub-zero winter conditions
A second convoy of aid trucks has crossed into stricken north-western Syria from Turkey, as rescuers continued to pull survivors – including a newborn baby – from the rubble 100 hours after an earthquake that has killed more than 23,000 people.
Hundreds of thousands more people have been left homeless and short of food in often sub-zero winter conditions after 7.8- and 7.6-magnitude quakes struck within hours of each other on Monday. Dozens of countries have pledged help and sent emergency teams.
Continue reading...Rescue teams say death tolls will continue to rise if UN does not speed up ‘overly cautious’ delivery of aid into rebel-held region
Pressure is mounting on the UN to provide urgent support to north-western Syria, which is yet to receive meaningful aid five days after the earthquake that devastated the region, and with the chance of finding any survivors beneath the rubble almost gone.
A convoy of 14 UN lorries entered the opposition-held part of the country from Turkey on Friday at the Bab al-Hawa crossing, containing humanitarian-kit, solar lamps, blankets and other items, one day after a six-lorry convoy crossed the border with blankets and basic supplies. Thursday’s convoy had been arranged before the disaster that has killed at least 3,500 people inside Syria and left thousands more buried under rubble.
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